Tonearm rewiring

@bimasta, We all make ''inductive generalisations'' based on

our (limited) experience. Those are not logically valid statements.

My ''generalisation'' about Clearaudio clips are made in this

way. Alas those are pretty expensive  So I am very curious about

your discovery of  ''P-clips''. The ratio of our forum consist in

such discoveries and sharing such information with other members.

Whatever one thinks about (different) wire is different question.

I own many carts and many headshells so those damn clips

are my primary worry. I hope someone can provide a picture of

those ''P-clips'' so we will have some idea about their looks.

.

Best example was a Linn Ittok vs SME 309. I was happy with the Ittok, enough so to have two. Then I got the 309 — I’d always lusted for that elegant series from SME, and though it wasn’t the TOTL ‘V’, it was great. Clearly better than the Ittok. No contest.

I rewired one Ittok as described above — a single wire from start to finish (X 4, two per channel). In a direct comparison, I was surprised that the Ittok was now clearly better than the 309. I’d expected improvement, but it was so dramatic I sold the 309, though I hated to part with it, having coveted it for so long.

The ‘mythical’ sound quality isn’t due to the wire, it’s the single unbroken signal path. It’s important that both were good arms to start with — mechanical quality of both was superb. A badly made arm would not yield such significant rewards.

I also compared the rewired Ittok to my stock Ittok — its superiority was even more obvious.

I didn’t use ‘mythical’ wire, in Nandric’s phrase, just good thin copper, 33 gauge as I recall. Whether mythical wire would be even better, I can’t say. I did rewire an arm once with Van den Hul monocrystal silver wire (mythical), but it was so brittle it broke almost every time I changed cartridges — it was so maddening I didn’t care about its sonics. I still have some, and wouldn’t hesitate to use it in an arm with removable headshells, because once installed you never have to touch it.

I have 15 feet of Cardas 34awg tonearm wire waiting in the drawer, enough for three more 9” arms — I just haven’t had an arm for it yet. I didn’t buy it because it was Cardas (mythical) but because it was readily available.

The Clearaudio clips N recommends look great but I haven’t tried them. I use the ‘P-clip’ design derived from the computer industry. They’re terrific. Connectivity standards in the computer world are extremely high, because a failure can cost a company millions — or start World War 3. They also easily fit a wide range of pin diameters — no need for surgery to make them tighter or looser, so you never break them off — a major hassle avoided. Cardas sells them for serious money, but Radio Shack offered the same clips, 25 of them, for pennies. Alas, RS is no longer around, but they’re probably easily found online.

Best of luck with your project. I hope this was of some help.

The most cartridge clips are worthless. This is in particular very

annoying by not removable headshells. The best clips are made

by Clearaudio. By possible rewire one need to asses the state

of original wire. if those are not corroded (copper) then no rewire

is needed. The wire myth is not only present by speaker wire but

also by tonearms wire.